Shwedagon Pagoda

Overview

The Shwedagon Pagoda is a gilded Buddhist stupa, a solid dome-shaped monument, in Yangon, Myanmar, located on a hill above the city center. Burmese Buddhist tradition holds that it enshrines relics of four Buddhas, including eight hairs of Gautama Buddha, the founder of Buddhism. Buddhists in Myanmar regard it as the country's most sacred site, and worship takes place on its terrace daily.

Present

The Shwedagon Pagoda is administered by the Board of Trustees of the Shwedagon Pagoda. Worship takes place daily on the broad terrace surrounding the stupa. Devotees walk clockwise around it, offer flowers, candles, and water, and pray at the planetary posts, eight small shrines around the base that Burmese practice links to the days of the week. Monks and lay Buddhists gather at the pagoda on the full-moon days of the Buddhist calendar. The annual Shwedagon Pagoda festival falls at the full moon of the Burmese month of Tabaung, usually in March. The gilding of the stupa is renewed continually through donations from worshippers. The Myanmar civil war since 2021 is affecting the pilgrimage to the site.

Religious Significance

The Shwedagon Pagoda holds religious significance for Buddhists because of the relics Burmese Buddhist tradition holds are enshrined within it. According to that tradition, two merchant brothers, Tapussa and Bhallika, met Gautama Buddha, the founder of Buddhism, shortly after his enlightenment and received eight hairs from his head, which they enshrined on Singuttara Hill in present-day Yangon. Tradition further holds that the hill already contained relics of three earlier Buddhas. In Buddhist belief, Gautama Buddha is the most recent in a series of enlightened teachers who appear across vast cycles of time. The Shwedagon is therefore held within Burmese tradition to enshrine relics of four Buddhas, and Buddhists in Myanmar regard it as the country's most sacred site. Worship at the pagoda joins Buddhist devotion with Burmese astrology: each planetary post at the base of the stupa corresponds to a day of the week, and devotees pour water over the Buddha image at the post of the day on which they were born. Walking clockwise around the stupa, meditation, and offerings of flowers and light are daily practices.

History & Structure

The Shwedagon Pagoda was first built by the Mon people, an ancient indigenous ethnic group, between the 6th and 10th centuries CE. Rulers of successive kingdoms raised and gilded the stupa over the centuries. An earthquake in 1768 brought down the upper part of the stupa, and King Hsinbyushin rebuilt it to its present form in the 1770s. The pagoda has also been a gathering place in Myanmar's political history: it was a rallying point of the independence movement under British rule and of mass protests in 1988 and 2007. The stupa is located on Singuttara Hill and rises about 100 meters, dominating the skyline of Yangon, where building heights are capped by law to preserve its prominence. It is covered in gold plates and crowned by a hti, a tiered umbrella finial, set with thousands of diamonds and other gems. Covered stairways ascend the hill from four directions to the main terrace, which holds dozens of smaller shrines, pavilions, and prayer halls.

Additional Resources

• Official website: Shwedagon Pagoda
• UNESCO: Shwedagon Pagoda on Singuttara Hill
• Book: Shwedagon: Golden Pagoda of Myanmar by Elizabeth Moore, Hansjörg Mayer, and U. Win Pe (1999)